1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for making fermented or "sour" flour. In particular non-toxic Lactobacillus bacteria are used for the fermentation of a flour and water mixture which is then dried so as to provide the finely divided fermented flour.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fermented or sour dough bread and other sour dough baked goods, such as sour dough biscuits, pancakes, rolls and crackers, are commonly made by mixing a large quantity of sour starter dough (sometimes called starter or mother sponge and containing yeasts and bacteria which convert maltose and glucose in the flour to lactic acid, acetic acid and carbon dioxide) with water in small amounts, flour and salt and holding the resulting dough mixture in a warm place to allow fermentation to proceed. Part of this sour dough is then saved for use as a starter for the next batch of dough to be made, with flour and water being added to the starter dough in increasing quantities every 6 to 8 hours until the quantity of dough needed for the next production batch is attained. The remainder of the sour dough is proofed and baked in a well known manner to obtain the sour dough baked products. This method is laborious and time consuming and is done commercially only because of the great and high price of sour dough products. Such sour dough baked products are not constant in acidity and flavor from batch to batch over a period of time particularly because of varying bacterial amounts as well as compositions due to contamination.
As a result of a recent improvement developed by the present inventor, the prior art is using a Lactobacillus plantarum concentrate to prepare baked products. This concentrate is sold to a bakery in frozen form to allow for shipping from the manufacturer. The bakery then thaws the concentrate and prepares a dough sponge with baking ingredients and then bakes the products. This method is not well suited to large commercial bakeries. Also, the use of frozen bacterial concentrates is foreign to the home user who is accustomed to using flour alone.